


To Catch a Fish

by shopgirl152



Series: Copper and the Kids [2]
Category: Disney Cartoons (Classic), Fox and the Hound (1981)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Family, Fatherhood, Fishing, Gen, Hijinks, Mischief, OC, Original Character(s), Siblings, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-09-18
Updated: 2013-11-17
Packaged: 2018-01-01 22:53:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1049533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shopgirl152/pseuds/shopgirl152
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nobody ever said being a father would be easy. Of course, no dog had to fish like a fox either. And with three cubs? Well, that's an adventure in itself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to Copper's Choice. This one's a little more light hearted than the other one. Enjoy!

“Okay, so all I need to do is…?”

“Dunk your face in the water, wait for a fish to swim by, then grab it with your teeth.”

“Copper, are you sure that’s the right way to do it?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

Copper leaned over, peering into the river. It was his first time learning how to fish like a fox and Little Copper was helping him learn. Still, despite the instruction, the brown and tan dog wasn’t feeling very confident, to say the least.

“Like this Uncle Copper!” Cinnamon grabbed a tree branch that was lying on the ground, shaking it as hard as he could. “Chloe, catch!” He tossed the branch to Chloe, who caught it in mid-air.

“Then you give it a good bite on the neck, like this.” Chloe chomped down hard on the tree branch, shaking it for emphasis. “See? Then it’s dead.” Copper looked unsure.

“Don’t worry, Uncle Copper, I’ll show you. Watch me.” Little Copper dunked his head in the river, waited a few seconds, then emerged with a fish dangling from his mouth. He placed it down on the ground, put a paw on it, then bent down to bite it. It slapped him in the face, then flopped back over to the riverbank, landing back in the water. His face fell. “Um, I’m not very good at fishing yet.”

Copper walked over to him, putting his huge dog paw on the little fox’s shoulder. “It’s okay. That’s better than I could do anyway. You’ll get better at it. You’re a natural. Me, on the other hand…”

The cub’s face brightened. “I’m a natural?”

The brown and tan dog smiled. “Yes.”

“Maybe I should try again.” The chocolate colored cub looked at Copper, wondering.

“Sure, go ahead.”

The little fox cub stuck his head in the river again, grabbing another fish. He placed it down on the ground once more…then forgot to put his paw on it. Once more, it flopped over into the water. The cub sat down on the ground, defeated again. “Awww! What am I doing wrong?”

“Well, for one thing, you didn’t pin it to the ground like you’re supposed to.” Chloe smirked at her brother.

“I was going to.”

“Well, you didn’t. Here, watch a pro.” She sauntered over to the riverbank, daintily leaning her head down into the river. A few seconds later, she popped up, a fish dangling from her mouth. “See, it’s not so hard, it’s—OW!” The fish smacked Chloe in the eye, effectively gaining its freedom. “Why that little…come here!” Chloe charged over to the river, practically diving in the water. “I’ll get you! I swear, I’m going to bite you so hard, it’ll…it’ll…I don’t know, but you’re gonna pay!”

Little Copper rolled over onto his back, both feet up in the air, shaking with laughter. He pointed at his sister. “Some fisher fox you are; you got smacked in the eye! At least I was smart enough to put the fish down.”

Chloe glared at her brother, then came charging out of the river until she was standing over him, her fist clenched, ready to punch him. “You wanna make something of it?”

The cub grew serious; he hated being hit. “No.”

“Are you sure?” Chloe leaned in closer, leering at him.

“Okay you two, that’s enough.” Copper stood over both cubs. “Find another way to work it out. I don’t want any hitting, okay?”

“Uncle Copper,” Chloe whined.

“Don’t ‘Uncle Copper’ me. Walk away. There are better ways to handle conflict. Now where—“

“Hi-ya!” The two cubs and the dog turned just in time to see Cinnamon barging into the river, splashing water everywhere. Unfortunately, Cinnamon’s idea of catching a fish was to take it by surprise and wrestle it to death. Not exactly what you would call fishing technique.

He came up from underneath the water, dripping wet, spluttering all the way. “Where is he?! Where’s that stupid fish?! I had him; I had him in my teeth! Where is he?!” He stopped for a second, panting. He looked around, then slowly walked out of the river.

“Uncle Copper, I had him. I really did. He got away from me!”

Copper looked at him, smiling. Cinnamon was exactly like Tod; mischievous and causing trouble. _Well, better here than a chicken coop_ , he thought. Suddenly, he had an idea. Now, if only the cubs would take him up on the offer. He looked at the three cubs, then smiled. “It seems our fish friend over there is trying to get away from us.” The cubs nodded. “Well, I have an idea. A way we can catch him. But, I’m going to need your help. Are you with me?”

The cubs looked at Copper, smiles slowly spreading across their faces “YEAH!"


	2. Chapter 2

“Okay troops, listen up!” Copper paced back and forth in front of the cubs. “There is a fish out there that refuses to be caught, right?”

“Right!”

“And we’re going to catch him, right?”

“Right!”

“Good. Now, here’s the plan. Each one of us has attempted to catch the fish and each—“

“Uncle Copper?” Little Copper raised his paw.

“What is it Copper?”

“Well…” The chocolate colored cub paused, thinking. “Well, me, Chloe and Cinnamon have tried to catch the fish. You haven’t. Maybe you should try first? Then if you can’t catch him, we’ll go with your plan.”

Copper paused. He was afraid of this. The cubs had seen right through his plan; there was no getting out of it. He sat down on his haunches, scratching a brown floppy ear in thought.

“Uncle Copper?”

“I’m thinking.” Well, maybe his original idea wouldn’t work; they would have needed a net and there was none in sight. The only way he could get a net was to go back to Amos Slade’s farm and get one. No, bad idea; that would only lead to trouble. Maybe if they teamed up, they would increase their odds. But, he apparently had to prove himself first. He stopped scratching his ear and looked at the cubs. “So, you want me to catch the fish?”

“Yes.”

“And if it doesn’t work…”

“We’ll help you with your plan,” said Little Copper.

“Alright, I’ll do it.”

“Yay!"

\---------------------------------------------------

Copper leaned over, looking into the river as it ran past. _Okay, it can’t be that hard, right? I’m a hunting dog; I should be able to do this. No problem. Dunk the head in, wait for a fish to swim by, then grab it with my teeth._ He braced himself. _Well, here goes nothing._

_\---------------------------------------------------_

“Chloe. Hey, Chloe,” Cinnamon whispered.

“What?”

“Come here a sec.”

Chloe rolled her eyes and walked over. “ _What_?”

“Look at Uncle Copper. See how far he’s leaning over?”

“Yeah. So?”

“So, if we could get him to lean over further…”

A wicked grin spread across Chloe’s face. “We could push him in!”

“Exactly.”

\-------------------------------------------------------- 

Copper lifted his head out of the river, his ears dripping water all over the grass. “Well, that didn’t work. Not one fish swam by. Guess I’m done then.”

“Aw, come on Uncle Copper, you can do it.” Little Copper looked at his uncle adoringly. “You told me I was a natural, now it’s your turn. Besides, it takes practice.”

Copper smiled at the little cub. “You think so?”

“Yeah.”

“Well…”

“Uncle Copper?”

 The dog looked up. “What is it Cinnamon?”

 “Chloe and I were watching you from over there and we think your technique’s off.”

 “Really?”

“Yeah. You need to bend down further. Maybe, if you lean down so your stomach’s in the water, you can see more fish. Because then, that way…uh…” Cinnamon thought fast. “You’ll—“

“You’ll be in the deeper part of the water, so you’ll catch more fish,” finished Chloe.

“Yeah,” added Cinnamon, feeling relived that his sister knew the plan.

Copper looked at them skeptically. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, if you say so.” Copper stuck his head in the river once more, wriggling his body forward until he was almost fully submerged in the water. The only thing that was out of the water were his hind legs and his tail.

“Okay, now!” Chloe gave the signal, motioning Cinnamon forward. Little Copper barged in front of Cinnamon, glaring at him.

“What are you doing?”

“We’re pushing Uncle Copper in the water, that’s what we’re doing.” said Cinnamon.

“That’s not nice.”

“Well, look at Mr, Goody-two shoes here. Trying to save his Uncle.”

“It’s not _nice_.”

“Oh, lay off it runt,” said Chloe. “Come on, help us push him in. It’ll be fun. Try to act like you’re not a goody-goody for once.”

Copper sat down, pouting. He hated being ganged up on. Still… “okay, I’ll do it.”

“Okay, good. Now, you and Cinnamon get on that side of him and I’ll get on the other side. On the count of three, we push him in. Ready?”

_“Ready!”_

_\-------------------------------------------_

Copper opened his eyes under water, looking around for the fish that had been eluding them all afternoon. He was just about ready to pull back up when he felt himself slipping. He scrabbled at the bottom of the river, looking for something to grab onto. No use. Next thing he knew, his entire back end had somehow followed him into the water. He was now lying flat on his stomach in the water. There could only be one explanation. _Those stinking cubs. When I get my paws on them, I’ll_ … _wait a minute._

Copper sat bolt upright, his haunches and tail still in the water. Maybe the cubs had actually done something good. There were fish swimming all around him. He got up so that he was now ankle deep in the river. The dog bent his head down, snapping and biting at the fish swimming by. He jumped and splashed and barked, trying to scare the fish. But, it wasn’t working. The fish didn’t seem fazed at all. He continued barking, snapping and splashing for a few more minutes before climbing out of the river, defeated. 

\-----------------------------------------------

Back on the riverbank, the three cubs were laughing at the spectacle. They had never seen their Uncle look that mean before. The sight of him getting outwitted by the fish was hysterical.

“Ha, he can’t even catch a fish. Some hunting dog he is,” smirked Cinnamon.

“Yeah,” agreed Chloe. “He couldn’t catch a fish if he tried.”

“Uh, guys?” said Little Copper

“What is it now, runt?”

“He’s coming.”

The cubs grew solemn as their Uncle came walking up the riverbank, dripping wet from head to paw. He didn’t look happy.

“We’re gonna get it,” said Cinnamon.

Copper walked up to the cubs, standing in front of them. He looked at them sternly, then shook himself off, effectively drenching them in the cold river water.

“Hey! Uncle Copper! No fair!”

“Oh, and I suppose tricking me would be considered fair play?” The cubs remained silent. “I didn’t think so. Now, I told your Mom I was going to get supper and I intend to follow through on that promise. You three are going to help me, understand?” The cubs nodded. “Good. Now, everybody down to the riverbank.”

"But—“

“ _Now_.”


	3. Chapter 3

A few seconds later, Copper and the three cubs were standing in a circle in the river.

“Uh, Uncle Copper? Are you sure this is gonna work?” asked Cinnamon tentatively.

“I’m not sure of anything at this point. All I know is this fish has it in for us. We have all tried to catch him, but it hasn’t worked. So, if we work together, we should be able to catch him.”

“And if we don’t?” asked Chloe.

“Then no supper tonight.” The cubs gulped. “Okay, on the count of three. One…two…three!”   

What followed was a mess of dog and fox cubs splashing every which way in the water, causing such a racket that you could hear it for miles. There was splashing, barking and yelling.

“I got him! I got him!” Cinnamon kicked up streams of water as he dived toward a rock. The fish swam under the rock at the last second. He skidded to a halt, narrowly missing the rock face. “I had him! Come here!”

The fish slithered out from under the rock, swimming toward Chloe. Spotting it, she swatted, trying to get it out of the water. It kept leaping away from her. “Go onto the riverbank, you sucker! Stay still!”

The fish leaped away from Chloe and headed toward Little Copper, who was watching the water intently. He watched the fish carefully, then dunked his head in quickly in an attempt to grab it. He came up coughing and sputtering. “Ew! Twigs! Yuck!”

Copper was splashing around in another part of the river, barking and growling at the fish, hoping to scare it into submission. It seemed fruitless. He stopped for a second, sitting down, his tongue lolling out of his mouth, panting heavily. He couldn’t help smiling at the cubs; although they had pushed him into the river, they had only done it in fun. They _were_ cubs after all. He decided another plan of attack was needed. He barked, signaling the cubs to him. They splashed over obediently, scared of what would happen next.

“Uncle Copper, are you still mad at us?” asked Little Copper.

Copper smiled at the chocolate cub. “No, but I will be if we don’t catch that fish soon.” He smiled. Little Copper smiled back, relieved.

“I can’t catch him, he’s to fast!” Cinnamon splashed over, panting.

“Me neither. Stupid fish,” spat Chloe.

Copper smiled. “Okay, troops, I have one more idea. If we can corner the fish and we all dive for him at the same time, we should manage to do it. One of us should catch him. Now, are you ready?”

“YEAH!”


	4. Chapter 4

Cubs and dog were standing in a circle once more, waiting for the fish to swim into the circle. Finally, it swam in, circling around, appearing to tease the animals.

“There he is,” whispered Copper. “Okay, nobody move, don’t make a sound. On my signal, we dive at the same time.”

“Okay.”

“Steady. Wait for it…now!” The four animals dove for the fish, quickly becoming a tangled mess of legs, paws and tails. They untangled themselves quickly, then took off. “Okay troops, stay with him! We have to do this together! There he is!” Copper spotted the fish a few feet away. Without thinking, he dove for the fish and bit into the water…

He came up spluttering, the fish wriggling around in his mouth. He bit down as hard as he could, trying to stop the fish from wriggling, but it didn’t work. The fish wasn’t giving up without a fight. Copper tore out of the water, racing for the den hole. The cubs looked at each other, then ran after him.


	5. Chapter 5

Copper tore through the forest at breakneck speed, the cubs huffing and puffing behind him

“Uncle Copper, wait! Slow down!” Chloe yelled after him, but Copper didn’t slow down. “What’s he doing?!”

“I don’t know; maybe he wants to impress Mom or something,” said Little Copper.

“Well, whatever it is, we have to keep up with him. Come on!” Cinnamon picked up speed, trying to keep up with the racing dog, his brother and sister trying to stay with him.

\-------------------------------

Copper wiggled his head back and forth. The fish was still trying to get free; it was wiggling so hard, it was spraying water everywhere. He clamped down on the fish again, but no use; it refused to be beaten. Well, he would not let it beat him. He could see the den hole up ahead. He charged toward it.

\-------------------------------

Down in the den, Vixey’s ears perked up at the sound of yelling coming from outside the den hole. She walked cautiously to the entrance, poised to run if necessary. There was yelling, but it didn’t sound scared; it sounded like…

“Mom! Mom! Mom, you gotta see this!” Cinnamon charged through the den hole, practically knocking Vixey off her feet. “Mom! Come quick!” The cub jumped around the den excitedly.

”What is it Cinnamon?”

“I can’t tell you! You have to see it! Quick! Follow me!”

“Sweetie, what—“

“Come on, hurry!” Cinnamon wrapped his paws around Vixey’s legs, attempting to pull her toward the den hole. “Come on!”

“Okay, okay, I’m coming.” Vixey followed Cinnamon to the den entrance, trying to keep up with the cub’s frantic pace. She poked her head out of the hole, sniffing cautiously.

“Mom!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Vixey came out of the den hole, looking around. She couldn’t figure out what all the excitement was about; there was nothing to see. And then, she saw it; running toward her at breakneck speed was Copper, a fish wriggling around in his mouth. Both dog and fish were putting up a fight; Copper wiggling his head back and forth to prevent the fish from escaping, while the fish wriggled as hard as it could, trying to free itself. The sight was comical to see. Vixey put a paw over her mouth, stifling a laugh.

Copper ran up to her, skidding to a halt so hard it made him sit down. The cubs jumped around frantically, all talking at once. “Uncle Copper caught a fish! We helped him! It took all four of us, first Little Copper tried, but he couldn’t do it—“

“I could to!”

“Then I tried it, but the fish smacked me in the eye!”

“Then I tried to wrestle the fish, but it got away from me!”

“We pushed Uncle Copper in the river!”

“He wasn’t happy.”

“We got in trouble.”

Vixey smiled at the frantic cubs. “Kids, kids, calm down. One at a time, one at a time; what happened?”

“First Little Copper was trying to help Uncle Copper catch a fish,” started Cinnamon. “But he couldn’t do it, so then Chloe tried to do it.”

“Stupid fish smacked me in the eye.”

“Then Cinnamon tried to do it, but he couldn’t do it,” said Chloe.

“Then Uncle Copper had a plan. He said we had each tried to catch a fish,” stated Little Copper. “But I pointed out that he hadn’t caught a fish, so he had to try first.”

“So he did, but then we pushed him into the river. He was mad, then he told us we had to help him get supper,” said Chloe.

Vixey chuckled. “And then?”

“Then all four of us tried, but the fish escaped from us. We were all over the river.”

“I was trying to chase it, but it dove under a rock,” said Cinnamon.

“Then it came to me and I tried to slap it onto the bank, but the stupid fish wouldn’t stay still,” said Chloe.

“Then I tried to snap it with my teeth, but I got a mouthful of twigs! Ew!” Little Copper stuck out his tongue in disgust.

“Then Uncle Copper tried, but he couldn’t get the fish either.”

“Then we tried again. We teamed up and went for the fish at the same time—“

“But Uncle Copper caught the fish before us, then he ran toward home. We had to run to keep up with him; he was to fast!” Cinnamon sat down, panting.

Vixey smiled at the cubs. “Wow. Sounds like you had a big day. Sounds like—“

“Mmmmppphhh!” Copper interrupted, the fish still putting up a fight between his teeth. The fox smiled teasingly.

“What was that Copper?”

“Mmmmpppphhhh!”

“Would you like some help?”

“Mmmmm!” Copper was annoyed; here he was, waiting for someone to rescue him from the wriggling fish while the cubs told Vixey about their fishing adventure. The fish was beginning to leave a horrible taste in his mouth.

Vixey leaned over, effortlessly grabbing the wriggling fish tail out of the dog’s mouth. In one swift movement, she had the fish down on the ground, paw on top of it, effectively holding it down. She leaned down and bit the fish near the head, causing it to finally stop wriggling. 

Copper meanwhile, was spitting on the ground. “Yuck! That fish tasted terrible! How can you eat that?”

“It’s all part of being a fox,” said Vixey kindly. “Don’t worry; you’ll learn. It takes lots and lots of practice. I’ll show you tomorrow if you want.”

Copper smiled. “I’d like that.”

“Mom, can we come too?” Cinnamon looked at his mother expectedly.

“Yeah, can we? Pleeeaassee?” Chloe chimed in.

“I’m not good at catching fish yet, but I want to get better at it. I want to come too,” stated Little Copper matter-of-factly.

“You can’t come runt,” said Chloe.

“Why not?”

“This trip is for big foxes, not little ones.”

“Mooommm!”

Vixey smiled. “You can all come. We’ll make a day of it tomorrow. But right now, we have to eat dinner. Come on, in you go.” Vixey pushed the cubs into the den hole. “You coming Copper?”

“I don’t have to eat the fish, do I?”

“Well, it’s either that, or you can eat twigs.”

Copper groaned. “Great. My choices are twigs and fish. What have I gotten myself into?” Vixey stared at him. “Just kidding Vixey, just kidding. Come on, I’ll help you.”

Vixey disappeared into the den, leaving Copper outside. He glanced over his shoulder before disappearing into the den hole. He looked around at the familiar forest, the trees, the grass; everything seemed right in the world. He smiled. It felt good to be home.


End file.
